Day in the Life of a Preschool Teacher

Being a preschool teacher is most definitely an exciting, exhausting, and rewarding profession. I am sure we have all left a day of teaching feeling one or more of these emotions.  Some days I am like “I’ve got this and love what I do” other days it’s “my mind and body are physically exhausted, how can I continue?”. However, it’s those cute smiling, happy, and energetic faces (and coffee) that keeps me going and coming back.

A typical day:  We arrive a half hour early in order to prep the classroom and any material needed for the day. Students and teachers both have the same 7 hour day. Teachers have a 45 minute lunch and hour prep period. The morning includes: breakfast, morning meeting, bathroom, center time, and a read-aloud. Our students eat lunch at 10 and then have gross-motor for an hour. During students lunch and gross motor the teachers take their prep and lunch (a much needed break to regain sanity and momentum 🙂 ). It is wonderful to have an hour and a half to prep afternoon material, take observations and data, write IEPs, and have team meetings. The latter part of the day includes quiet time, a read aloud, center-time, phonics, snack, and gross motor. After students leave we debrief, plan, and prepare for the following day.  Some days it takes an extra 45 minutes after work and other days it takes a couple of hours. It all depends on the time of year or events taking place. Working early or late isn’t something most of us desire, but it is definitely worth it in the long run for the kiddos and you!

Schedules: Figuring out the schedules is a tricky task, especially when co-teaching and following specific requirements for preschool instruction.  Over the past 3 years, I have had to do much trial and error to find out what works best for everyone.  Attached to this post, is a detailed picture of the adult schedule posted in our room. All 3 adults ( general education, special education, and paraprofessional) work together to help cover some of the breaks.

Tips: The two most important recommendations I can give is 1)  make sure there is a time all adults can all meet to collaborate and schedule your breaks around non instructional time for the students. 2)  If you have any questions or want to collaborate on how to best set up your class schedule, please feel free to reach out!

Click here for a quick video tour of our classroom! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSBoQcswTos

Also, click here for a free template of our daily schedule! FullDaySchedule